Playing the Field: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel

by Jennifer Seasons

  Lorelei held up her hands. “Amen to that.”

  The catcher snagged her around the waist and pulled her in for a kiss. “That’s what makes us so great, sugar. If a guy isn’t an asshole once in a while then it’s because he’s a pussy.”

  JP had to agree with that assessment. “Sounds like you’re saying that I shouldn’t let that stop me.”

  “I didn’t let it stop me.” Mark pointed out. “Do you see where I am now?”

  Yeah. In a plush-ass condo with a beautiful fiancée. It didn’t suck to be Mark Cutter.

  Didn’t suck to be him either. He just needed to work on the whole getting-Sonny-to-forgive-him thing.

  “Well, thanks for letting me crash your pad, Mark.” It was time to get going so he could think on what was said.

  “Anytime, brother.”

  About to stand up, JP felt the phone in his pocket vibrate and frowned. He didn’t remember turning the volume off. Reaching into a front pocket, he pulled out his phone and saw that he’d missed a call. He was about to put the cell away when he noticed the number.

  It was Sonny.

  The woman hadn’t spoken to him in two weeks and he’d been calling regularly. Looks like she’d finally decided to talk to him. Maybe she was already starting to forgive him.

  JP glanced at Mark. “Do you mind if I check a message? Sonny just called.”

  Lorelei waved a hand. “Of course not.”

  Quickly connecting to voicemail, JP felt the leap in his pulse at the announcement that he had one new message. Maybe she wanted to talk. The important thing to note was that she’d broken her silence and had reached out. That meant something.

  Placing his free hand over his exposed ear, JP strained to listen as the message began to play. What he heard took him by surprise. It wasn’t Sonny. It was Charlie.

  What he heard made his heart sink. “I thought we were friends.” The boy started angrily and defiant. “You said you were my friend and that you wanted to be in my life, but you’re nothing but a liar.”

  JP frowned and continued listening. “You told me you would come to my game. You promised. I looked for you the whole game and you never showed up.”

  The kid took a breather and he thought the message was ending, but then it went on. “We were supposed to be a team. Isn’t that what you said when you told me about you and my mom? That you wanted to be a part of our team? I believed you.”

  The pain in Charlie’s voice made his chest ache and grow hot. “You were my role model, you know. Now you and Mom don’t talk, so you don’t want to see me.” The boy’s voice began to waver, crushing him. “Well guess what, JP? I don’t want to be like you anymore.”

  There was rustling and shuffling and then in the background came Sonny’s voice, and it was the last straw. JP broke. Tears burned the back of his eyes and he pressed his lips together hard as he listened. “Have you seen my phone, Charlie?” the love of his life asked. And then the line went dead.

  JP lowered the phone from his ear, stunned. Swallowing around the lump in his throat, he blinked the tears back hard as clarity came to him in a painful epiphany.

  He had blown off and dumped a ten-year-old kid.

  God, he really was an asshole.

  That ball game he’d promised to go to had obviously meant everything to Charlie and he’d forgotten all about it because he had been so wound up over the fight earlier that day with Sonny. And then because he and Sonny weren’t talking he hadn’t made any attempt to talk to Charlie. Why the hell hadn’t he realized that his relationship with Charlie was its own thing? That he couldn’t just walk away from it if or when things didn’t work out with his mom?

  The kid deserved better than that.

  Taking a deep breath, JP looked over to find two worried faces watching him carefully. Now he had two hurt people to win back.

  “Is everything okay?” Lorelei asked, her voice colored with concern.

  Not in the least. “I need to do that big gesture.”

  Compassion softened her green eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  So was he. For a lot of things. His brother was right. He really was cocky. And it had hurt the people he loved very much. Knowing that made him feel terrible. He didn’t blame Charlie for going off on him the way he had. He had deserved it. But just because he deserved it didn’t mean he was going to leave it this way. Hell no.

  Resolve began to flicker to life in his gut. He was going to make it up to them. He was going to make everything right. They needed to know that they hadn’t put their trust in the wrong man.

  Mark stood up and walked to the glass doors that led out to the balcony, saying as he went, “You need to think of the one thing you could do that would show them how much you care. Something important that they would recognize.” He glanced over his shoulder at JP. “You’re a ballplayer. What’s your superstition?”

  Not following the catcher’s logic, he thought about it anyway and came up with an answer after a few minutes. He wasn’t the most superstitious guy around. “I never wash my ball cap during the season.”

  Mark shook his head. “No one does that. Give me something better.”

  Did he have something better? “I use a different deodorant for away games than home ones.”

  “Nuh-uh.”

  Crap. This was hard. JP knew that there were lots of baseball players with really far-out-there superstitions, but he wasn’t one of them. He didn’t wear the same underwear for months or refuse to shave. He certainly didn’t abstain from sex like some players he knew. Those guys swore the sexual frustration improved their game, but he thought they were just dumb.

  There wasn’t really anything he was weird about. The closest thing he could think of was his walkout song.

  JP went still. His walkout song.

  Bingo. He had his big gesture. “I’ve got it.”

  A memory came to him of a conversation he and Charlie had had on one of their drives about game songs. It had happened during the ride over to Mark’s house for the game recap. Charlie had asked him if he could change the station.

  “I really like 95.7 The Party,” the boy had said. Grinning at JP, he’d found the station and cranked the volume. “It has the best music.”

  JP completely disagreed. “I don’t think so.”

  Charlie looked at him, eyes all round and earnest. “It’s true! They even play my favorite song on there lots.”

  JP reached over and ruffled the kid’s hair. “What’s that?”

  “If I tell you, you got to promise not to laugh. None of my friends at school like it, except Sam, so they tease me.” Charlie slid a glance over at him. “No teasing, ’kay?”

  JP’s chest went tight. Of course he wouldn’t tease him. “I promise.”

  Charlie hesitated. “I got to trust that you won’t.” He held up a hand. “Shake on it?”

  Eyes full of innocence looked up at him, and his heart tripped in his chest. “Deal.” JP held out his hand and felt Charlie’s small one slide into his. “Now tell me.”

  The boy leaned across the seat and whispered the song in his ear. JP’s eyebrow shot up at the title, though he’d never heard the song. He was just playing along. “Good call.”

  Charlie grinned sheepishly. “Yeah?”

  JP nodded. “Yep.” He had no idea honestly, but was already planning on Googling it when he got home.

  Leaning back in his seat, Charlie had resumed playing with the radio knobs. Then he stopped, turned to him and said with feeling, “I really like you, JP.”

  His chest went tight again. “I really like you too, kid.”

  Now he remembered Charlie’s favorite song with a sinking feeling. But this was about winning back the hearts of the ones he loved. There was no room for sissies. Still, he flinched. He couldn’t help it. This was going to be painful.

  But it was time to go big or go home.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  * * *

  “TELL ME AGAIN what happened so that I get the big picture, Son
ny.” Janie leaned back in her seat at the kitchen table and pulled off the top of a blueberry muffin. Popping it in her mouth, the pregnant woman waited for Sonny to answer.

  She grabbed a muffin out of the bakery box on the table and went in search of a plate. “I’ve told you most of it.”

  Around a mouth full of carbs her best friend replied, “I know, but I want to hear it again. With every telling of the story new information comes to light.”

  What was there to recap? It was over with JP. So much for her short-lived jaunt into relationship-land. “I’m not sure where to even begin.”

  Janie pointed at her with a piece of muffin top. “I’m still confused about why you blew up at him so bad over him telling Charlie. I mean, I get that it was wrong and all. He shouldn’t have done that without talking it over with you first. But to have lost your shit like that and not give him a chance to at least try and explain confuses me.”

  Sonny picked at a blueberry imbedded in the top of her pastry. “Does it matter? He stood up Charlie at his ball game. That’s inexcusable.”

  Her best friend put a hand on her rounded belly. “Is it? Ben’s missed stuff of the kids’ and I haven’t left him over it.”

  A bird landed on a tree branch just out the window and Sonny watched it. When it began to sing she looked back at the brunette. “That’s different, though. For one, you two are married. And that means that he did a lot of stuff really right at the beginning or you wouldn’t have gone down the aisle with him. So when he screwed up later he’d already earned himself some street cred.”

  The bird kept singing, the sound drifting toward them on a rose-scented breeze. Janie looked confused. “Have I never told you about the time he messed up with Michael when we were first dating?”

  Umm, nope. “I think I would remember if you had.”

  Her friend nodded. “I think so too.”

  Sonny stood up and went in search of some glasses for water. “What happened?”

  With a hand still on her belly, Janie wiggled her bare toes on the braided rug. “We’d only been together about three or four months. I’m not sure. But, I do recall that we’d been together long enough that I had felt comfortable asking him to pick up Michael from basketball practice after school. I had something come up and couldn’t make it in time.” She took another bite and chewed. “I got a call from the coach an hour after practice had ended asking me why I hadn’t retrieved my son. Poor Michael had been sitting outside in front of the school building waiting for Ben.”

  That must have been terrible for the boy. “That’s awful. What happened after?”

  Janie took a sip of water. “I was livid by the time I had picked up Michael and got a hold of Ben. I reamed him a new one and promptly broke it off.”

  Seemed about right. “I get that. I mean, he let Michael down.”

  Her friend nodded. “He did, it’s true.”

  “So then how did you forgive him?” That was what she really wanted to know.

  “I forgave him because I remembered all the good things he had done, too. I didn’t let one failure override all the successes.” She ducked her chin and gave Sonny a pointed look.

  Okay, she got it. “I hear you. Really I do, but what JP did with Charlie was a big transgression.”

  “Did you ever stop to think that maybe something important came up?”

  Of course she had. She wasn’t heartless. “I did.”

  Janie reached for another muffin. “And? Did you ask him?”

  Why would she go and do that? That would have been the mature thing to do. Sonny wasn’t winning any points in that category lately. “We haven’t spoken about it, no.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he hurt Charlie. What’s there to talk about? He can’t take it back and unhurt my son. Even if he could somehow rewind the clock, he’s still a celebrity. Where he goes, a camera soon follows, and I hate it. You saw that picture. It’s invasive and feels like such a violation of my privacy when I’m with him and some paparazzi starts snapping away.” She squared her shoulders, resolved.

  Her friend got quiet and thoughtful. “I hear you, Sonny. I was merely asking on the off chance that he did have a valid reason for not making the game.”

  Why did Janie have to go and be pragmatic all of a sudden? She was pregnant. It was her God-given right to be irrational as hell. “Even if he did have a valid reason—and I’m not saying that he did. But even if he did it wouldn’t matter. I don’t want to live my life under a spotlight.” She didn’t want to be judged by a world of strangers.

  “Okay.” Her friend decided not to push the subject. “How is Charlie holding up?”

  Restless suddenly, Sonny hopped out of her chair and went to look for dishes to wash by hand. It was a great outlet for her nervous energy. “He’s still upset, last I knew. You know, I think he called him the other day.”

  Janie’s aqua eyes grew big and round. “Really? Why do you say that?”

  A plate was in the sink and she went to work on it. “I couldn’t find my phone the other day and then when I went looking for it, he had it. And JP’s number was in the outgoing calls log.”

  “Do you think that he misses him?”

  Absolutely. And it pissed her off. Her boy had really cared for JP. “I think so. He hasn’t said anything, but he’s started using the mitt he gave him again.”

  A loud thump came from the far side of the living room. “Speaking of boys. I think Michael and Charlie found the old mini-trampoline.”

  Earlier, after Janie had arrived with Michael, her boy had asked to play with the small trampoline outside. He’d mentioned something about it and water balloons. As long as it went down outside, she’d told them to have at it. By the sound that just came from the living room the boys couldn’t wait for outside.

  Janie started to push out of the chair and Sonny stopped her. “Stay. I’ll get this.”

  Leaving her friend in the kitchen, Sonny found the boys jumping on the trampoline. “I told you that you had to play with it outside, Charlie. I didn’t mean right here in the house. You two boys need to take it where it belongs before I change my mind about letting you use it.”

  Unwilling to risk it, Charlie grabbed one end of it, apologizing. “I’m sorry, Mom. We just wanted to see how high we could go.”

  “That’s fine, but you need to do it in the yard where there’s space.” She did not want to be replacing anything.

  “All right.” The boys lifted the metal frame and began carrying it toward the door. A foot or two from the door they set it down and Charlie said, “There’s a Rush game on in a little while. Will you come get me before it starts?”

  Sonny cocked her head to the side and studied her boy, instincts on sudden alert. This was new. “You want to watch, buddy?”

  Charlie brushed hair out of his eyes and shrugged, “Why not?”

  Umm, because JP was a jerk and he didn’t like him anymore? “Just asking. I’ll let you know when it starts.”

  Returning to the kitchen, she found Janie holding her phone. Her friend looked up, mild amusement in her pretty eyes. “You got a text.”

  Sonny sat back down and reached for the cell. “Why is that so newsworthy?”

  The brunette handed it over. “Because it was from JP.”

  Her hand froze in midair. “What?”

  Janie waggled the phone. “You heard me. The text came from JP.”

  Bracing herself with a deep breath, Sonny took the phone and opened the message. It read simply:

  Don’t argue. Just watch the game with Charlie.

  What the heck?

  Frowning even though her heart had started pounding the minute Janie had told her who the text was from, Sonny handed the phone over for her friend to see. “What do you make of that?” More importantly, why should she care?

  She was still so angry at him for what he’d done. And yes, she could admit that there’d been a part of her that had panicked and looked for an excuse to shut things down. Oh
, all right. A big part had.

  But he’d been way more wrong than her.

  Janie snagged her attention. “I think we should watch the game.”

  The clock on the wall said that they had twenty minutes until it started. “Why? What’s the point?”

  Janie gave her a look like, “Duh” and replied, “To find out what he’s up to.”

  Yeah, that might be a good idea. She was about to say so when something occurred to her. “I wonder how he was able to text down on the field so close to the game starting.”

  Janie tapped the table with a hand, making a soft, sharp rap. “Another reason to watch!” she declared with a bright chirpy smile.

  Okay, fine. She would watch, but she sure as hell wasn’t in the mood to forgive him. He didn’t deserve it.

  Moving into the living room, Sonny turned on the television and found the channel. There were still a few minutes before the game started, so Sonny decided to make something to drink.

  She turned to her friend who had curled up on the couch with a pillow between her legs for support and asked, “Do you want something to drink? Maybe some tea?” As soon as the words were out she thought of the first night she and JP had been together after she’d invited him to stay and have a drink.

  A small ache surrounded her heart. Maybe she missed him a little bit. But only a little, and certainly not enough to try a relationship with him again. She didn’t want to put Charlie through that. Being the kid of a single parent could be tough enough at times. Trading that for a life in the public eye wouldn’t be any easier. Her boy deserved more than that.

  But what about you? her heart whispered. What do you deserve?

  Something that just wasn’t meant to be.

  Looking radiant from pregnancy, Janie smiled appreciatively and arched her back to momentarily ease the strain. “That would be great. I’ll take chamomile if you have it.”

  Of course she had chamomile. It was a staple. “I’ll be right back.”

  In the kitchen alone, Sonny let down her guard some and sighed wearily. Now she was about to watch him play baseball on the tube. It made her jittery with nerves and anticipation. She wasn’t sure how she was going to feel, seeing him for the first time since their fight.